Judas Priest

I am a beginnner with Priest, don't think I have heard a whole album start to end, but love some of the more famous songs. I like Trial by Fire a lot, gonna taste Panic Attack now.
 
mtmccox said:
I am a beginnner with Priest, don't think I have heard a whole album start to end, but love some of the more famous songs. I like Trial by Fire a lot, gonna taste Panic Attack now.
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You are in for a treat! Judas Priest are a fantastic band.

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Is it generally accepted to like Ripper stuff, cause I immensely dig Burn In Hell, once I accidentally heard it on a pub jukebox and fell in love instantly, but read a lot there is some sort of hate.
 
mtmccox said:
Is it generally accepted to like Ripper stuff, cause I immensely dig Burn In Hell, once I accidentally heard it on a pub jukebox and fell in love instantly, but read a lot there is some sort of hate.
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I wouldn't have said it isn't accepted, but it's not common to like the Ripper years, though I was reading an article on another site where Ripper talked about his Priest albums and a lot of the comments were from people saying they thought they were pretty good and were disappointed they weren't on streaming sites, so people might be coming around to them.

Personally I think Jugulator isn't completely awful, but it sounds like complete garbage and has very few memorable moments (those that were were memorable for the wrong reasons), but it's almost completely redeemed by "Cathedral Spires". Brilliant song, fuck knows where that flash of inspiration came from.
 
mtmccox said:
Is it generally accepted to like Ripper stuff, cause I immensely dig Burn In Hell, once I accidentally heard it on a pub jukebox and fell in love instantly, but read a lot there is some sort of hate.
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I view the Ripper era and the Blaze era in much the same way. Both lasted two albums and were not received too well by the majority of their fans. These days (on social media at least) I seem to see more "hate" towards Ripper by Priest fans. Personally I really don't care much for both eras though the albums have some good songs on them I have to say they are among my least favorites from either band. I do think Ripper fit in better musically than Blaze. He could sing the Halford songs. It's almost impossible following 2 of the most legendary voices in Metal.
 
Iron Lurker said:
I view the Ripper era and the Blaze era in much the same way. Both lasted two albums and were not received too well by the majority of their fans. These days (on social media at least) I seem to see more "hate" towards Ripper by Priest fans. Personally I really don't care much for both eras though the albums have some good songs on them I have to say they are among my least favorites from either band. I do think Ripper fit in better musically than Blaze. He could sing the Halford songs. It's almost impossible following 2 of the most legendary voices in Metal.
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They both failed for different reasons, I think.

Maiden didn't really change their sound for Blaze. Sure, they got a bit darker and melancholic and longwinded, but that was all Steve and had nothing to do with Blaze. It still sounded like Maiden at the core. They made some great songs with Blaze, but unfortunately Blaze could not perform the classics.

Priest became a completely different sounding band with Ripper. Their new music was unrecognizable as Priest, and this coming from a band who was certainly not new to chasing trendy sounds. They made no great songs with Ripper, but Ripper could sing the classics really well.
 
Iron Lurker said:
I view the Ripper era and the Blaze era in much the same way. Both lasted two albums and were not received too well by the majority of their fans. These days (on social media at least) I seem to see more "hate" towards Ripper by Priest fans. Personally I really don't care much for both eras though the albums have some good songs on them I have to say they are among my least favorites from either band. I do think Ripper fit in better musically than Blaze. He could sing the Halford songs. It's almost impossible following 2 of the most legendary voices in Metal.
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MrKnickerbocker said:
They both failed for different reasons, I think.

Maiden didn't really change their sound for Blaze. Sure, they got a bit darker and melancholic and longwinded, but that was all Steve and had nothing to do with Blaze. It still sounded like Maiden at the core. They made some great songs with Blaze, but unfortunately Blaze could not perform the classics.

Priest became a completely different sounding band with Ripper. Their new music was unrecognizable as Priest, and this coming from a band who was certainly not new to chasing trendy sounds. They made no great songs with Ripper, but Ripper could sing the classics really well.
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I think Maiden should have done like Metallica : hiring a great producer to make the both Blaze albums sound better and heavier. And also downtune their classic to fit Blaze's voice better and be easier for him to sing them.
 
I remember going into the Ripper albums thinking that I would be pleasantly surprised to hear some really strong hidden gems, but it's almost an opposite situation to Maiden. Priest were coming off of Painkiller, widely regarded as one of their best albums and followed up with Jugulator which was musically along the same thread, but it lacked any of the power or songwriting prowess found on its predecessor. Then with Demolition, I don't even know what they were going for. Ripper was very similar to Halford and it felt like the band did not want to take any risks during that period, while also forsaking the riffing style that made them cool. A Priest facsimile.

Maiden, on the other hand, started the 90s in a pretty rough spot and were on a decline with Bruce on vocals. X Factor was wildly opposite Fear of the Dark and while it had its flaws, it pretty much set the tone for their albums in the 21st century. Virtual XI, similarly widely regarded as their weakest album at least has a lot of musical threads that you can trace to Brave New World. So all flaws aside, it sounds more like Maiden than No Prayer and Fear of the Dark did.

I guess what I'm saying is don't get your hopes up with the Ripper albums. They have a lot of problems that go beyond the lack of Halford. In general I think Priest is a much less consistent band than Maiden and have made some really questionable musical decisions, Jugulator and Demolition among them.

I will say that I dig the live album 98 Live Meltdown. Pretty decent performance and it contains the strongest material from Jugulator. That's usually what I go for if I want to hear Ripper Priest, I don't bother with anything from Demolition.
 
Mosh said:
I guess what I'm saying is don't get your hopes up with the Ripper albums. They have a lot of problems that go beyond the lack of Halford. In general I think Priest is a much less consistent band than Maiden and have made some really questionable musical decisions, Jugulator and Demolition among them.

I will say that I dig the live album 98 Live Meltdown. Pretty decent performance and it contains the strongest material from Jugulator. That's usually what I go for if I want to hear Ripper Priest, I don't bother with anything from Demolition.
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I feel the same way
 
TheMercenary said:
I think Maiden should have done like Metallica : hiring a great producer to make the both Blaze albums sound better and heavier. And also downtune their classic to fit Blaze's voice better and be easier for him to sing them.
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Certainly a great producer could have helped with the sound and at least edit Angel and Stranger which are two of the most ridiculous songs they've ever done with the repetitiveness.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
They both failed for different reasons, I think.

Maiden didn't really change their sound for Blaze. Sure, they got a bit darker and melancholic and longwinded, but that was all Steve and had nothing to do with Blaze. It still sounded like Maiden at the core. They made some great songs with Blaze, but unfortunately Blaze could not perform the classics.

Priest became a completely different sounding band with Ripper. Their new music was unrecognizable as Priest, and this coming from a band who was certainly not new to chasing trendy sounds. They made no great songs with Ripper, but Ripper could sing the classics really well.
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This is spot on
 
Mosh said:
I will say that I dig the live album 98 Live Meltdown. Pretty decent performance and it contains the strongest material from Jugulator. That's usually what I go for if I want to hear Ripper Priest, I don't bother with anything from Demolition.
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If you wanna hear some Ripper Priest, you can check both records made by KK's Priest and the live in Bloodstock 2023 you can find in its entirety on YouTube. ;)
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
They made no great songs with Ripper
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Cathedral Spires? Too bad the solos are so short. Demolition has some cool songs imo, but I don't like this album's styles (or the debut) at all.

The style of KK's Priest is probably what Priest should have done with Ripper back then.
TheMercenary said:
I think Maiden should have done like Metallica : hiring a great producer to make the both Blaze albums sound better and heavier.
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This would have been good for TXF.
Iron Lurker said:
Certainly a great producer could have helped with the sound and at least edit Angel and Stranger which are two of the most ridiculous songs they've ever done with the repetitiveness.
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I think Steve knows he didn't make the right decision with the long version of Angel on the album, but I don't think he would listen to a producer, again, then. At least the repetition in Eyes Of A Stranger is there for a reason.
Mosh said:
I remember going into the Ripper albums thinking that I would be pleasantly surprised to hear some really strong hidden gems, but it's almost an opposite situation to Maiden. Priest were coming off of Painkiller, widely regarded as one of their best albums and followed up with Jugulator which was musically along the same thread, but it lacked any of the power or songwriting prowess found on its predecessor. Then with Demolition, I don't even know what they were going for. Ripper was very similar to Halford and it felt like the band did not want to take any risks during that period, while also forsaking the riffing style that made them cool. A Priest facsimile.

Maiden, on the other hand, started the 90s in a pretty rough spot and were on a decline with Bruce on vocals. X Factor was wildly opposite Fear of the Dark and while it had its flaws, it pretty much set the tone for their albums in the 21st century. Virtual XI, similarly widely regarded as their weakest album at least has a lot of musical threads that you can trace to Brave New World. So all flaws aside, it sounds more like Maiden than No Prayer and Fear of the Dark did.

I guess what I'm saying is don't get your hopes up with the Ripper albums. They have a lot of problems that go beyond the lack of Halford. In general I think Priest is a much less consistent band than Maiden and have made some really questionable musical decisions, Jugulator and Demolition among them.
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MrKnickerbocker said:
They both failed for different reasons, I think.

Maiden didn't really change their sound for Blaze. Sure, they got a bit darker and melancholic and longwinded, but that was all Steve and had nothing to do with Blaze. It still sounded like Maiden at the core. They made some great songs with Blaze, but unfortunately Blaze could not perform the classics.

Priest became a completely different sounding band with Ripper. Their new music was unrecognizable as Priest, and this coming from a band who was certainly not new to chasing trendy sounds... but Ripper could sing the classics really well.
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This.
Edington said:
At least the Ripper albums tried to do something new.
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With a similar vocalist. Ripper was great live back then (still going strong), but Maiden got a different voice and a fairly big change of their writing style.
 
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GhostofCain said:
You are in for a treat! Judas Priest are a fantastic band.

qC0t9S.gif
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Definitely! My first album was Sin After Sin.
Love that production!
They never made really stinkers although the Ripper albums weren´t my thing. Jugulator was way too heavy!
My Top 3:
1. Screaming For Vengeance
2. Defenders Of The Faith
3. Surprise Surprise.... Turbo
 
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